July 30th, 2008 → 7:38 pm @ terry
I just had to use the title I did. I love it. I was reading over my last entry in the blog before starting on this one and saw one of the Google ads titled “Beware Of Self Employment”. Now, that’s some darn good advice.
I’m back to make one of my rare appearances on the blog. I’ve been on the road doing a “clean up” for one of our companies. They really impressed us with their offer and we really had to take the work just to see why the offer was so good. Now we know.
I had eighty-four properties to inspect and it has taken three days but I finally finished and boy, was it an eye opener. Even though we’ve been in this business for a pretty long time, I was flabbergasted with what I saw those three days.
With only a few exceptions, all of the properties inspected had a value of at least one million dollars! If I was holding that portfolio of properties I don’t think I would be able to sleep too good at night. It didn’t take long to figure out why we were being paid so well.
Some of these properties had private guards on duty; most had active electronic security in place and all of them took much more time to inspect than the normal run-of-the-mill properties we usually do. In fact, this was the first time we’ve been able to report that the pool is in the house.  Yep, in the house. Most of these places were more like palaces than single family residences.
It was fun and the money’s in the bank. We’re kind of hoping we’ll be asked to do it again. I’ll be around for a few days and if you’re looking for e-mail from me, you’ll probably get it before the end of the week.
July 18th, 2008 → 9:44 pm @ terry
I know I’m showing my down home country side, but as Jerry Clower told Marcel Ledbetter, “Just shoot up here amongst us. One of us gotta have some relief”.
It would be nice if ole’ Jerry was still around. I swear, I’d invite him to go out in the field with me for a day. I’m sure he could come up with a good story about the field services business. He could keep us laughing so hard we might forget some of the crazy stuff we have to do.
I tell you, I just can not believe what’s going on. On top of the fuel stuff, the mortgage stuff, the Obama fans and the McCain fans, I think it’s time we all just shut down for a while and get readjusted. All this stuff going on is what made me think of Jerry Clower and Marcel Ledbetter – just shoot up here amongst us!
It looks like it’s been about a month since I showed up to post anything here. It certainly feels longer than that. I don’t think I’ve had too many spare days in the last month; maybe a few spare hours. We literally are getting three to five hundred inspection requests per day. Per day! We’re all going like mad but we still have a hard time getting it all done.
I’m running routes again. Have to! Sometimes two or three a day and just about always a couple of rush assignments, pre-sale, post-sale, you name it. Even had one company send us eviction papers to serve which we could not do. Nice try on their part though.
I’m kind of excited about a few things going on on the personal side of the business. I received a call from a pretty big name in the business that I asked to review my manual. After I make a few minor changes to the manual I’ll get an endorsement from this person. That’s a big thing for me. I’m still waiting on a publisher to respond. No rejection notice yet and I think thats good too.
I think I’m sitting here so I can relax for a few minutes. I still work on the web sites a lot. That is really my entertainment. Got lots to do to get them where I want them to be.
I hope this short, rambling post will encourage you if you’re still sitting on the fence. You know I cannot guarantee you anything, but things are real good in this business right now. I was getting calls from some new inspectors we helped get into the business then the calls quit. Just for kicks I called to ask why. “You’re really kidding me, aren’t ya?” We both laughed and we’re both too busy to call.
OK. I gotta go again. If things are getting really bad for you, start thinking Mexico.